


Thunder

by BWaves



Series: Joy and Owen [6]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Anxiety, M/M, Storms, Thunder - Freeform, Tornado
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-06-28 12:20:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15707118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BWaves/pseuds/BWaves
Summary: Anonymous asked: Are either of them scared of storms? Like the lightning and thunder and winds and flooding and stuff?





	Thunder

They saw the clouds on the horizon about thirty minutes ago. Despite their hopes that they were farther than they looked, the clouds seemed to settle right over the town they were driving through. The darkness looms, but there’s no rain, just lots of wind. Joy rolls down the window when he hears what he thinks is a motorcycle, but it turns out to be a tornado siren. When he looks to Owen to comment on it he notices that he seems to have gone pale.

His fists are tight around the steering wheel and his breathing looks labored. Joy reaches over to touch his arm. “Are you okay?” he asks. Owen doesn’t say anything, he just shakes his head a little bit. Joy frowns and he grabs his phone, looking up the nearest hotel. He gives Owen directions without elaborating, and Owen just follows them without question. They pull into the lot and Joy helps Owen pack them a bag. They go inside, check in, and get to their room right as the rain starts to pour down.

Joy stays by the window, watching the gloomy green clouds move through the sky. There’s a flash of lightning that doesn’t look to be too far away, followed almost immediately by the crash of thunder. Joy sighs softly, reveling in the feeling of it rumbling the floor beneath him. Joy loves the thunder, he loves the sound and the feeling. Owen, on the other hand, does not, and Joy realizes as much when he turns to look and he sees Owen curled up on the bed, hands pressed tightly over his ears, his face scrunched up tightly.

Joy watches him for a long moment before he draws the curtains closed, and he turns to climb onto the bed with Owen, wrapping his arms around him, and guiding him to put his head against his chest.

He’s only known the guy for a couple of days, but he’s not about to leave him here to suffer in his own misery. “Hey, hey, I’ve got you,” he mumbles. He feels Owen tremble in his arms. He pulls away just enough to grab the bag off the edge of the bed, dragging it close. He digs out his phone, and his earbuds, and he finds some calm music to put on. It takes some coaxing to get Owen to uncover his ears, and he makes sure to time it in between the lightning and thunder, so that the chances of Owen hearing it is pretty low.

Joy puts the earbuds in, and he gets the music playing, and Owen stays in his spot, holding on tightly to Joy’s shirt. “I’ve got you,” he assures gently, even if Owen can’t hear him.

He rubs his shoulder, and he watches the curtains as they flash with the lightning. 

After a while, it seemed like Owen had fallen asleep, so Joy carefully laid him on the bed. He gathered up the blankets and covered him up, he made sure his phone was charged enough to keep playing, and he headed for the window. He pulled the curtains back and he watched the sky, still a weird green color, he looks around and he watches the lightning and he listens to the thunder, and he enjoys it for a while.

He watches as the clouds move quickly through the sky, and he frowns a bit when he sees something that is distinctly a funnel, swirling down toward the ground. “Well, fuck,” he sighs, and he rubs his face a bit.

He grabs their bag and he takes it into the bathroom, setting it against a wall. He carefully gets all the blankets away from Owen, and he loads up the bath tub so it’s comfy. He gently nudges Owen awake, and he doesn’t get the headphones out, he just gets him to his feet and guides him to the bathroom, but he doesn’t get him in there before Owen pulls the headphones out and pushes at the wall to keep from going in.

“Why are we going in there?” He holds the wall, and Joy lets go of his arm.

“There’s a tornado coming, and this is the safest place in this room for that.” Joy tells him, and Owen looks over to the window, “Please, come on, I don’t know how much longer until more thunder happens, and I saw how much it freaked you out, please.”

“What about my car?” Owen asks, though Joy can tell he’s not that worried about it. He just sounds scared.

“We’ll worry about that later.” Joy tells him, and he tugs on his arm a little, “Come on, all our stuff is in here, and I threw all the blankets in the tub, so you can go back to sleep in there, if you want to.” Owen keeps staring at the window, and Joy realizes he left the curtains open. He leans to look and Joy can see the still not touched down tornado through the window. “Come on,” he encourages, and he gets Owen into the room.

Owen gets wrapped up in the thick comforter in the tub and he waves away Joy’s hand when he offers the headphones. “Get in here.”

“What?”

“Get in here, with me.”

“Dude, that’s weird, I barely know you, I’m not getting in the tub with you.” He frowns and Owen grabs his arm, Joy sighs, “There is not enough room in there.” Owen doesn’t relent, he just holds on tightly, and he pulls a little bit. Joy heaves a sigh, and he sits on the edge of the tub, “Just gimme a minute,” he mumbles.

He takes off his prosthetics, and he sets them on the floor, and he carefully gets into the tub with Owen. Owen adjusts so that they both fit, and he wraps his arms around Joy, holding him tightly, and burying his face in his shoulder blades.

In here, they can hear the wind howling, they can hear the rain pounding on the walls and roof and every time the thunder cracks, Owen jumps, and tightens his arms around Joy. Joy puts his hands over Owen’s and he talks softly to him, reassuring him with whatever comes to mind. “It’s okay,” he tells him, “it’ll pass,” Owen squeezes him tight, “everything is gonna be okay.”

The room feels like it’s shuddering, and the wind is loud, and they both jump when they hear the window in the room shatter.

Joy turns to face Owen, and he grabs at the blankets until they’re both covered completely. The wind slams around the room outside the bathroom door, and Joy keeps up his reassuring words. He keeps it up as Owen shakes, and he keeps it up until the wind quiets, and the place finally seems to have gotten quiet. Joy pulls the blanket back to look and he sees the lights went out at some point, but that’s fine.

“Are you okay?” He asks Owen, and he carefully pulls the blanket away from his head.

“I think so.” Owen murmurs, but in the dim light coming from the door Joy can see how tightly his eyes are closed. Joy pulls the blankets back over him, and he carefully pushes up out of the tub.

“I’ll be right back,” Joy says, as Owen grabs his shirt again. “I promise, I’m not going very far.” He pats Owen’s hand and he lets go. Joy grabs his prosthetics, and he pulls them back on. He stands and he heads for the door. It’s quiet, so he opens it. He looks over the room, which is wet, and a bit trashed, and there’s a window’s worth of broken glass lying around. The rain seems like it’s stopped. Joy sighs, and he carefully crosses the room to the broken window to look outside. The tornado seems like it’s gone, which is a relief. The place is a mess though.

The bathroom door opens again, and Joy turns to look, Owen is leaning out, looking at the room himself. He still looks pretty shaken up, but he crosses the room to stand next to Joy, and look out the window. “I see my car.” He says softly, pointing into the parking lot. Joy follows his finger, and he tips his head a bit.

“Well, at least the only thing broken is the back window.” He mumbles, “We can get that fixed, right? We might have to stay here an extra day, but, I mean, Denver’s not going anywhere.” He mumbles.

“Yeah,” Owen agrees softly.

They both stare at the car, Joy puts a hand on Owen’s arm and he turns a little bit, “Are you okay?” Owen nods a little, he looks down to the glass that cracks under his shoes as his feet shift. “That was pretty fuckin’ scary, honestly.” Joy sighs, and he pinches the bridge of his nose. “I’ve never actually… Like, been through a tornado before.”

“Really?” Owen turns a little to look at him, “We had, like, so many when I was a kid. We never got hit, though.” He steps back from the window, and he looks over the room, at the pillows that have fallen to the floor, and the lampshade that’s been thrown askew, “We lived in a valley, so they always hopped from one hilltop to another, right over us.” He straightens a lampshade, he picks up a chunk of glass from the bed and drops it to the floor, “So I never really saw the mess they made in person. But I do remember that the Albertson’s had to close because the damage was so bad from one.”

Joy follows him as he wanders back to the bathroom, sitting on the edge of the tub and dropping his face into his hands. “We got blizzards,” Joy tells him, sitting with him, and taking a few moments to breathe.

It takes a couple of hours to get out of the hotel, from waiting for the weather to clear, and getting the okay to leave. They get back in the car with their stuff, and they head out of town. The broken window is noisy, but they push through it, wanting to get further south. They stop in Cheyenne and find a place to get the window fixed.

They drop the car off, it won’t get fixed until the next day, but they’re prepared for that. They walk to a nearby hotel with their things and they settle in there. They take turns showering, and they turn on the television, they get in bed and this time Joy closes the distance between them.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this and you'd like to see more, go check out joyandowen.tumblr.com where I am taking asks and requests involving these two boys.


End file.
